Petition To Court May Delay Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) Meeting

[webfact]

PARLIAMENT

Petition to court may delay JBC meeting

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

Move to consider minutes of meetings deferred until ruling on need for approval

Parliament yesterday suspended consideration of minutes of the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC) meetings, threatening a delay to scheduled talks on the boundary issue.

The move followed a lawmaker's appeal to the Constitution Court to rule whether the minutes of the three previous meetings of the JBC required parliamentary approval before negotiations on boundary demarcation could go ahead, Parliament President Chai Chidchob said.

The development might delay a JBC meeting scheduled for April 7-8 in Indonesia, if the court takes time to consider the matter.

However, Foreign Minister's Secretary Chavanond Intarakomalyasut insisted the meeting in Bogor would go ahead as planned despite the delay in the Thai parliamentary process. "We have many other issues to discuss in the JBC meeting," he said.

Prior to the Parliament session yesterday, Chai informed the meeting that the Constitution Court had decided on Friday to take up a request by Democrat lawmaker Sirichok Sopha to rule on the legal status of the JBC's documents.

Article 190 of the Constitution requires approval by Parliament of any document deemed as a treaty, which makes changes in sovereignty and territory in deals with foreign countries or international organisations.

Sirichok is contending that the JBC documents might not be deemed as treaties requiring Parliament approval as they are simply records of meetings.

Parliament approved the negotiating framework for the JBC in October 2008, but the Foreign Ministry requested again that Parliament approve JBC's minutes of three meetings before its next round of talks. The JBC's previous meeting was held in Phnom Penh in April 2009.

Parliament took up the JBC documents for consideration in November last year and assigned an ad-hoc committee to study them. The study was submitted to Parliament on Friday.

Parliament yesterday also discussed the ad-hoc committee's study, which recommended that the JBC reject the France-made map of 1:200000 scale, and insisted that the disputed border area of 4.6 square kilometres adjacent to the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear belongs to Thailand.

The map in question was used by the International Court of Justice to rule in 1962 that Preah Vihear Temple was situated on territory under the sovereignty of Cambodia.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva urged Parliament to endorse recommendations of the ad-hoc committee to show Cambodia that Thailand did not recognise the map. The map, printed in 1908, indicated that not only the sandstone temple but also its surroundings are on the Cambodian side.

The joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate debated whether Parliament needed to approve the study. Many MPs suggested a delay until the Constitution Court had made its decision on the JBC's documents.

The Parliament session ended without any resolution yesterday as it lacked a quorum. Speaker Chai called another meeting to consider the matter again on April 5.

-- The Nation 2011-03-30

[geovalin]

Thailand should officially declare "We refuse multilateral and will torpedo the bilateral. We only accept the unilateral. We'll discuss with Thailand to determine the borders. When Thailand and Thailand will agree, we'll communicate the result to Cambodia which will be asked to comply."

[asiawatcher]

Simply more stalling tactics. And then when the House is dissolved, there will be no Parliament to induce or decide upon an outcome. It is all going pear-shaped again.

[truethailand]

Simply more stalling tactics. And then when the House is dissolved, there will be no Parliament to induce or decide upon an outcome. It is all going pear-shaped again.

Sirichok Sopha ...is that the same guy

"Lawmaker Sopha visited Bout in April in a pre-trial detention facility... During the meeting... he tried to persuade Bout to testify that the Il-76 plane with an illegal cargo of arms from North Korea was financed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who bought the weapons for his allies, the red shirts," Promphan said during a parliamentary session on Tuesday.

Link

there is many to choose from

Abhisit close confidante... another smear Thaksin attempt...By christ they are shit scared of him..

[jdinasia]

Simply more stalling tactics. And then when the House is dissolved, there will be no Parliament to induce or decide upon an outcome. It is all going pear-shaped again.

Sirichok Sopha ...is that the same guy

"Lawmaker Sopha visited Bout in April in a pre-trial detention facility... During the meeting... he tried to persuade Bout to testify that the Il-76 plane with an illegal cargo of arms from North Korea was financed by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who bought the weapons for his allies, the red shirts," Promphan said during a parliamentary session on Tuesday.

Link

there is many to choose from

Abhisit close confidante... another smear Thaksin attempt...By christ they are shit scared of him..

And you believe Jatuporn? --- Yes I see you conveniently left out that the person that was making the claim was the known liar Jatuporn ... tsk tsk

(from the same link)

A red shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan said Sirichoke Sopha, a prominent member of the ruling Democrat Party and close aide to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tried to persuade Bout to give false testimony allowing to lay arms smuggling and terrorism charges against opposition leader Thaksin Shinawatra...........

.....

Premier Vejjajiva said he knew nothing about his key ally's talks with Bout.

In May, Vejjajiva dismissed reports of Sri Lankan media about his major political opponent Shinawatra's ties with arms traffickers.

"We thoroughly checked these reports and came to the conclusion that there was no link. The former premier had no ties with that plane," the prime minister said in May.

Thaksin close confidante and charged with terrorism, who has hidden behind his parliamentary immunity taking any chance to smear Abhisit. You are right! They are afraid of Abhisit

Edited March 30, 2011 by jdinasia

[webfact]

Court hands JBC minutes issue back to Parliament

By The Nation

The Constitution Court yesterday rejected a request by a lawmaker to rule on the need for parliamentary approval for minutes of three meetings of the Thailand-Cambodia Joint Boundary Commission (JBC).

The court said the debate in Parliament had not reached a stage where it had to rule on the mater.

The decision by the court threw the ball back into Parliament, leaving lawmakers to continue their deliberations on the documents and the boundary dispute.

The House must now resume its study of the minutes, Parliament President Chai Chidchob said. The issue is scheduled to be discussed on April 5, provided enough MPs attend.

The controversial JBC documents became a thorny issue following Parliament's reluctance to read them due to fears that they might pave the

way for changes to sovereignty over territory on the border with Cambodia.

The JBC documents were submitted for Parliament's consideration in November last year and an ad-hoc committee was set up to study them.

The consideration took place amid both domestic and international conflict. The nationalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has been camping near the Prime Minister's Office since January to mount pressure on the government and obstruct the JBC's work, while Thai and

Cambodian troops clashed at the border area near the Hindu temple of Preah Vihear in February.

Ruling Democrat Party lawmakers, led by Sirichok Sopha, tried to seek a way out by submitting a request to the Constitution Court to rule on whether the JBC documents were deemed as 'treaties' that needed Parliament's approval in accordance with Article 190 of the Constitution.

The court decided yesterday not to take up the request as the executive and legislative branches had not yet completed their considerations.

The court said in a statement that it could rule on the matter only if Parliament passes the minutes and then discovers they might be unconstitutional.

A clear opinion on the legal status of the JBC documents is badly needed as this Thailand-Cambodia joint mechanism on the boundary is scheduled to hold its next meeting on April 7-8 in Bogor, Indonesia.

Thailand and Cambodia have been at loggerheads over the boundary dispute, notably around the Preah Vihear Temple, as the area has not yet been demarcated.

The previous JBC meeting was held in Phnom Penh in April 2009 and will not resume until the minutes of the meeting are approved by Thai Parliament.

Speaker Chai said yesterday that Parliament is supposed to consider the JBC documents next week, but there were doubts about cooperation from some lawmakers.

Parliament failed to consider many bills this week due to lack of quorum. Many lawmakers kept away from the meeting to visit voters in their constituencies to prepare for the upcoming election.

-- The Nation 2011-03-31